# french music thread



## foreign contaminant (Mar 29, 2009)

basically, i am really just telling you to listen to the new phoenix song, but i realized that they are french, as are a lot of musicians i've come to like a lot recently, like serge gainsbourg or m83. i also noticed that, at least in american independent music, french artists have jammed a foot in the door for other groups from other countries to make it big here. in the last decade alone, america's given a lot of respect to acts like daft punk, air, phoenix, m83, serge gainsbourg (well, not *really* just in the last decade, but pitchfork recently gave the reissue of histoire de melody nelson a perfect score; i've found they usually know what they're talking about when it comes to old music). 

well, each artist bar serge makes dance music, and they all bar serge sing in english. but i just love that french musicians can take things that are so outdated and make them sound new. daft punk made disco a little less cheesy; m83 takes 80s music and does with it what i felt it could all along.

there are loads of other good french musicians, too; i really like france gall, for example. if you like some french music, talk about it here, even if it's the same stuff i just talked about for a second.


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## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Mar 29, 2009)

Oh, Serge Gainsbourg is an absolute favourite! I'm glad I'm not the only one who enjoys his music.
He did go through a lot of stylistic changes along the years, starting with a revival of the classical French style of music, followed by some reggae and then a sort of increasingly dance-y kind of deal. I must admit that I do not like his reggae period very much (or at all), but everything else is quite lovely.

What are you favourite songs? I'd be hard pressed to name all the ones I like, but the top ten would probably be Mon Légionnaire, Le Poinçonneur Des Lilas, Comic Strip, Elaeudanla Teïteïa (shame it's so short), L'acool, Ford Mustang, L'Eau À La Bouche, Sex Shop, Les Goémons and La Saison Des Pluies. Les Sucettes is great too, especially if you know the story behind it. It's hard though, because most of his songs have something great (even the creepy ones like La Décadance, Lemon Incest or Marilou Sous la Neige).
Then there's also the fact that the man was awesome in real life despite being a bum. I have a whole Word .doc with quotes of his :v

Pity his records are so hard to find nowadays, even in places like Belgium. I've only managed to find compilations or 'Fifty Best Songs' or things like that when I just want actual records.

But that's enough of him. I'll definitely be listening to the song you linked in about two or three days (depending on when my connection stops being terrible) and I'll check out the other artists you mentioned as well. I'm sad to say I only have one Daft Punk track, but I do know they're great nad that I should totally listen to them more.

Other artists I quite like are:
Benjamin Biolay, who's obviously heavily influenced by Serge (his song Dans La Merco Benz is quite reminiscent of Ford Mustang) but still very good. My favourite album of his is Trash Yéyé, but I've yet to find one I really dislike. He does a lot of World songs with depressing lyrics and he's basically the antithesis of Vincent Delerm, another famous French musician. They have a sort of rivarly going on, each criticizing the other for either being too happy or too sad :v

Mickey 3D. They're not a favourite and I o have mixed feelings, but they do have some pretty great songs such as Jeudi Pop Pop, Matador or La Mort du Peuple. One of their most recent albums, Tu Vas Pas Mourir de Rire, is pretty much awesome (even though the song Respire has been parodied to all hell).

Mylène Farmer is alright, but she's a bit too generic if you listen to a lot of English pop. Her music videos are always a pleasure to watch though, she really puts effort into them (except for Appelle Mon Numéro which was kind of shit).

Other artists with good tunes are Renan Luce and Carla Bruni (yeah, the President's wife), but they're not especially notable. I've been thinking of buying an M album to see what he's like but I haven't had the chance yet. All I know about him is that he has a pretty awesome 'do.

tl;dr: LALA FRENCHFAG CHIMING IN


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## Tarvos (Mar 30, 2009)

GOJIRA
GOJIRA
GOJIRA

ok they sing in english but so what


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## Departure Song (Mar 30, 2009)

France isn't represented very well in my music library, which is a shame because I have like 10 artists for most other major European countries.

Of note though is Mypollux, whose latest album _Dédales_ is really solid all around.


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## foreign contaminant (Mar 30, 2009)

Watershed said:


> GOJIRA
> GOJIRA
> GOJIRA
> 
> ok they sing in english but so what


pretty much every french group i listen to sings in english. daft punk, justice, phoenix, m83.. yeah.


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## Tarvos (Mar 30, 2009)

well I already mentioned Gojira, but then there is also Demians, who rule, and Alcest.


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## Erif (Mar 30, 2009)

Watershed said:


> GOJIRA
> GOJIRA
> GOJIRA
> 
> ok they sing in english but so what


You read my mind ;D.


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## Dewgong (Mar 30, 2009)

French music is cool

There was this one band (they sung in french) but I forgot the name and my friend was the one who had the music :(


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## goldenquagsire (Apr 7, 2009)

foreign contaminant said:


> pretty much every french group i listen to sings in english. *daft punk, justice*, phoenix, m83.. yeah.


these two are French?

damn, you learn something new every day. O_o


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## Tarvos (Apr 7, 2009)

the french are everywhere


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## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Apr 7, 2009)

fucking french people stealin' our wives and husbands, eatin' our food, poisonin' our water and makin' our music ):<


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